Numerical simulations of wake characteristics of a wind turbine in uniform inflow

Abstract

Abstract The wake of a wind turbine operating in a uniform inflow at various tip speed ratios is simulated using a numerical method, which combines large eddy simulations with an actuator line technique. The computations are carried out in a numerical mesh with about 8.4·10 6 grid points distributed to facilitate detailed studies of basic features of both the near and far wake, including distributions of interference factors, vortex structures and formation of instabilities. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.